It Started With a Push
by HiyonoYuizaki
Summary: When Jack pushed him away Ianto never expected to wake up in an unfamiliar forest. COE fix-it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I wanted to write a fix for COE so I did. In this Ianto is from an alternate universe where Owen and Tosh don't die in "Exit Wounds" but instead go with the entire Torchwood team into the room with the virus in it. **

Ianto was lost. He had just woken up in a strange field outside of a forest. All there were was trees, hundreds of them surrounding him like a cage. He called out for Jack, Tosh, anyone. But no one answered. He was alone. In the forest. With no idea how to get out.

Jack walked through the graveyard, stopping at a lone grave at the edge of the clearing. It was new, the stone was clean, and the ground newly filled.

"I miss you," he said to the grave, "I miss you so much." Tears slowly gathered around his eyes.

"I am going to move to America soon," he said, "I will come a visit though, I promise."

Jack continued to stare at the grave with teary eyes for a while longer, until he heard a Welshwoman yell his name.

Gwen ran up to Jack, trying to catch her breath. She had ran all the way from the Hub and was exhausted.

"There has been Rift activity," she panted, "And it came from the forest near the graveyard so I came to get you and…"

Jack sighed ignoring the rest of Gwen's explanation; he merely gave a weak smile and nodded, assenting to going with her into the forest.

Ianto was terrified. What had happened to his friends? Where were they? The last thing that he could remember was that he and the others were about to go into a warehouse to find the 456. Jack had pushed him away and then everything had gone black. The next thing he knew he was in a forest.

Jack and Gwen moved silently, quickly through the forest. They were about to arrive at the origin of the Rift activity when Jack heard crying. The crying sounded familiar. But Jack could not place where he had heard the crying before. It was coming from the clearing that he and Gwen were headed toward. Jack signaled for Gwen to stay back as he approached the clearing to find the source of the crying.

At some point Ianto started crying. He did not know why he started to cry but he attributed it to the obvious loss of his friends. At the thought of hid lost friends his lack of observation was understandable. He didn't even notice when a Weevil came up behind him until he heard a familiar yell for him to duck.

When Jack saw the Weevil above the curled up figure he immediately yelled for the figure to duck. It seemed that his plan worked because the figure did duck and Jack leaped over him to secure the Weevil. Fortunately the Weevil went down without much of a fight; Jack vainly blamed his amazing skills for the easy capture. He turned to comfort the figure but instead found himself staring in shock.

Ianto was so relieved to see Jack that he threw himself onto Jack. He was confused was Jack continued to stare at him instead of hug him back.

"Jack?" he said cautiously.

"Ianto," Jack whispered, "Ianto!"

Then Jack fiercely hugged Ianto back, Ianto smiled knowing that he had finally found Jack again.

"Jack," asked Ianto after the two were done hugging, "Where is everybody, weren't they just with us about to fight the 456?"

Jack smiled sadly and looked at Ianto, the Ianto that was not quite his Ianto… yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto was glad to be back in the hub. It was just the same as when he left it. He felt someone squeeze his hand, and looked up to see Jack.

"Jack," he inquired, "What's wrong?"

"I am just so glad to see you," said Jack quietly, Ianto could almost make out tears gathering in Jack's eyes.

"How long have I been gone?" asked Ianto.

Jack was quiet for a while and just stared at Ianto.

"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked Ianto.

Ianto remembered deciding that the whole team was going to fight the 456. Owen insisted on coming so Tosh insisted she had to come as well. The two had been together for a while and never left each other's side. Gwen elected to stay behind both to stay with Rhys and just in case something went wrong. Jack led the team to the warehouse where the 456, hopefully, were. Just as they were about to walk in Jack pushed Ianto away and then everything had gone black.

After Ianto finished his story he looked up at Jack. Jack was looking at him with sad eyes, almost as if he had lost something important.

"Ianto listen to me," he said gently, "The others they…" he trailed off.

"They what Jack?" asked Ianto, beginning to get worried.

"Ianto," Jack's eyes really did fill with tears this time, "They are dead."

"What!" Ianto was shocked.

"Owen and Tosh died a while back when John came back," said Jack.

Ianto's eyes filled with tears, "But they were just alive a few hours ago! How can they…"

Jack took a deep breath, "Ianto a few hours ago you were dead too."

All of Ianto's thoughts stopped. He was dead? He was dead? But how could he be dead if he was alive now. Ianto's mind reeled. If he had been dead then how could he be alive. He looked up at Jack, begging for answers.

"I think that you came through the rift from another dimension," said Jack, wiping his eyes and becoming more serious.

"Another dimension?" Ianto was still trying to grasp all he was just told.

"Yes, in your dimension Owen and Tosh never died and were fighting the 456 with us, while in this dimension they died before the 456 came to Earth," Jack explained, "In this dimension you died, while in the other dimension it seems that you live."

"I want to go back," Ianto demanded.

Jack nodded, "We will do all we can to get you home."

Jack would be sad to see Ianto go but he was happy that he got to see him one more time.

"Ianto," Jack waited until Ianto turned to look at him, "I love you."

"I know," Ianto said before hugging Jack.

As he hugged back Jack added another mental tally to the list of differences in the two dimensions. In the other dimension apparently he had told Ianto he loved him.

**A/N I know that it is short but this is all for this chapter. Sorry! The next chapter will be longer, I promise. Also do not fret this is not the end! Please review cause the more reviews I get the faster I update! =) It is inspiration! ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3

It took Jack and Gwen a while to find a way to send Ianto back to his dimension. In the end it was a devise that fell through the Rift that enabled them to send Ianto back. It looked like some weird cylinder about 5 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. It was a metallic gray, with various symbols carved around it. If you lined up the symbols with a coordinates of your destination dimension and hold both ends of the cylinder and press a small indent near the center of the cylinder at the same time, it will take you across dimensions.

When Ianto found out he was both overjoyed and sad. He was beyond relieved to be able to go home but felt guilty leaving Jack (and Gwen) alone. When expressed his concern to Jack, Jack only reassured him. To make up for leaving Jack alone in this dimension, Ianto spent a lot of Jack's free time going out with him to pubs and the like. This lasted three weeks until it was time for Ianto to use the devise and leave.

"I will miss you," Ianto told Jack.

"No you won't," Jack smiled bitterly, "Once you get back you will have your Jack, and you will be happy."

"I could come visit!" Ianto was desperate to make Jack smile.

"Nah, it will only make me want you more," Jack's smile became more real, "I am happy enough to have seen you again after I thought you were dead, at least now I will know that you are happy."

Ianto was blinded by tears as he hugged Jack with all his might before Jack put the cylinder in his hands and sent Ianto back to his own dimension.

Ianto woke up with a start. At first he could not tell where he was, but soon memories came floating back to him. He was in a forest, again. The trees surrounded him just as they did a few weeks ago when his little adventure in the other world began. Ianto sighed and began the long walk to the Hub.

The streets of Cardiff were peaceful, immensely different from the last time Ianto walked these same streets three weeks ago. Children were playing carefree and parents smiled as the looked on. There was a familiarity here that Ianto was missing in to the other world. Sure everything looked the same but the atmosphere was different, it was almost unnoticeable, but once he recognized the difference that was all he could concentrate on. The closer to the Hub he got the more excited he was.

The Hub was quiet when he entered, as if no one was there. Ianto's thoughts raced and he began thinking of what the other dimension's Jack said about everyone dying. Just as he was about to have a panic attack he heard voices coming from the meeting room. Ianto slowly went up the stairs and opened the door to the meeting room fearing the worst.

Gathered around the table were Gwen, Owen, Tosh, and even Rhys. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ianto made his presence known.

"Hello," he said for lack of anything else to say after coming back from a trip to another dimension.

Everyone in the room stared at him for a moment before Tosh leaped from her chair and flung he arms around him.

"Ianto!" she was practically radiating happiness, "Where have you been!"

Ianto smiled wearily, "It is a very long story."

The others listened to Ianto's with a mix of awe and disbelief. Most of the disbelief came from Owen, who firmly believed in one dimension, and Gwen, who did not believe that anyone could cross dimensions. But for the most part the reunion went smoothly, that is until Ianto popped the question: "Where is Jack?

The room was silent. Ianto glanced around trying to figure out the reason for the silence.

"Where is Jack?" he repeated with a bit more urgency.

Still no one responded.

"Where is he!" panic had begun to set in.

Owen was the first to respond.

His voice was gentle and sad as he grabbed Ianto's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down, "Ianto, Jack is dead."

Those words brought Ianto's world shattering down. Jack was dead. _Jack _was _dead_! Jack couldn't die he was immortal, right, right? Ianto was unaware that he had voiced the last part out loud and was surprised when Tosh answered him.

"He went to fight the 456 alone and somehow he exchanged his life for Earth's," she said sadly, "We are no sure how he did it but the next thing we know they were gone."

Ianto's eyes widened. Jack had died. He died protecting Earth, the exact opposite of what happened to the other Jack, who was alive while he was dead. No matter how elated Ianto was that his friends were alive, he was devastated to know that Jack had died. The person he loved most was dead.

**A/N Please don't kill me! I love jack too! But for the story to work he had to die in this universe! =( Don't worry too much there is going to be more!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I am so sorry that it took sooooo long to update. For all of those who waited I am finally done! I hope that everyone enjoyed reading! Thank you for taking the time to read this after I took forever to update *bows*. **

Jack sat at his desk listlessly. Gwen had been nagging him for days to get up and do something but Jack was just too depressed. Even though he knew that it was the right thing to let Ianto go back to the other Jack, he still missed him. It was like losing Ianto all over again.

Jack sighed, Gwen was right he needed to stop thinking. The more he thought the more depressed he was. There were a lot of things he could do to distract himself. He could calibrate the lift, talk to Janet, or even alphabetize the Archives. Archive… Ianto used to work in the Archives. Now Jack was even more depressed.

"Jack," came a familiar voice, "Jack!"

It was a very annoyed Gwen.

"Yes Gwen?" Jack answered.

"There is more strange rift activity!" she said urgently.

"Where?" asked Jack, happy for the distraction.

"I can't tell exactly but I think that it is coming from the old movie theater."

"Then let's go before someone stumbles upon it!"

The movie theater was just as Jack remembered it, except with more dust. The red seats was a little faded but other than that the movie theater had not lost any of its former splendor. Jack headed in in front of Gwen weary of what may be lurking in the dim area, however after a few rounds they had found nothing. And after a good three hours of looking, they decided to head back to headquarters.

Jack opened the hatch to his small room. He was sad that there was not a lot of rift activity because he really needed the distraction.

"You know you talk out loud right?" drawled Jack favorite Welsh vowels.

"Great, now I am hearing things!" Jack muttered exasperated.

"Look up you idiot!" came the much loved vowels again.

This time Jack did as the voice said, of only so he could prove to himself that he was hallucinating, instead standing at the edge of his door was Ianto. Surprised, Jack blinked and pinched himself.

"Are you real?" asked Jack in awe.

"Of course!" came the reply.

"I thought you were going back to the other Jack?"

"It is a long story, but I decided I would rather stay here, remind me to tell you about it."

"I will"

Jack reached up and pulled Ianto in to his bedroom. Ianto smiled and Jack smiled back, and they shared a kiss. Sure to be the first of many.


End file.
